Advanstar Communications Inc. Acquires Off-Road.com, the Leading Consumer Web Site for the Off-Road Industry

SANTA ANA, Calif. - April 18, 2005 - Advanstar Communications Inc., a leading worldwide publishing, tradeshow and marketing services company, announced today that it has acquired the Off-Road.com ( www.off-road.com )web site from Rubicon Media Group, Inc. The acquisition of Off-Road.com further strengthens Advanstar's growing position in the off-road, powersports and automotive aftermarket industries.

Off-Road.com was founded by Dean Waters and Patrick Chicas in 1995, and quickly grew to be the dominant website in the off-road and motorsports sector. It retains a solid position in the top 25 worldwide web motorsports sites as measured by Nielsen Net Ratings and boasts an average 625,000 unique visitors and 5 million page views every month. As the leading web site for off-road enthusiasts, www.off-road.com provides comprehensive race coverage, quick and easy access to category specific information, and more than 100,000 pages of searchable content that is indexed by leading search engines across the globe. Off-Road.com is where off-road enthusiasts go to find anything and everything about off-road motorsports, off-road motorized recreation and the off-road community.

Dean Waters will join Advanstar and serve as the Managing Editor of the site, and Dean's wife, Pattie Waters will join Advanstar as Customer Relations Manager. Also moving over to Advanstar is John Biddle, the Off-Road.com Advertising Sales Account Manager. Dean Waters commented, "I am very excited about the opportunity to work with Advanstar. Their vast resources and commitment to the off-road market will certainly propel Off-Road.com to the next level, and beyond."

Under the direction of Jim Ryan, Group Director and Publisher, Advanstar launched the Off-Road Group in 2004 with three new media products that exclusively serve the vibrant off-road market, including DIRTsports, a consumer publication targeted towards the off-road motorsports segment, Off-Road Retailer, a trade publication targeted towards the business of the off-road market, and Off-Road Impact Trade Show &amp; Conference.

"Off-Road.com is a household name and one of the most recognized brands in the off-road community. The addition of Off-Road.com to our portfolio creates additional benefits for our advertisers including newsletters, sponsorship opportunities, web advertising and membership programs, and further demonstrates our commitment to the off-road marketplace with an enhanced ability to deliver the best and most cost-efficient methods of connecting our customers with their customers."

Mike Webster, Vice President &amp; Director of Business Development of Advanstar's Off-Road Group stated, "Advanstar now simply offers the complete off-road package - advertisers and sponsors can reach buyers on the web, in print or at our leading events. Enthusiasts can get everything they need - race coverage, technical information, personality profiles, the hottest photography, chat rooms and expert analysis - from Advanstar's off-road portfolio. The addition of Off-Road.com to our portfolio, combined with our strong Powersports and Auto Aftermarket magazines and shows means that we now provide sellers with access to more that 1.5 million high-spending vehicle consumers and trade buyers."

About Advanstar's Off-Road Group
DIRTsports, Off-Road Retailer and Off-Road Impact Trade Show &amp; Conference are a triad of products produced by Advanstar Communications' Off-Road Group. Off-Road Retailer trade publication targets 14,000 off-road dealers, distributors and fabricators; sister product, DIRTsports is a consumer magazine serving more than 90,000 off-road motorsports enthusiasts and is the official publication of CORR, UROC, NMRO and Best-in-the-Desert and is published in association with SCORE International. Off-Road Impact Trade Show &amp; Conference gives the off-road nation a place to convene to share new technologies and techniques with a nationwide audience of retailers, resellers, buyers and manufacturers

About Advanstar's Powersports Group
The Powersports Group is the largest producer of trade shows and conventions for the powersports industry worldwide including the Dealernews International Powersports Dealer Expo, Big Twin West, Big Twin East, Dirt Expo and the Cycle World International Motorcycle Shows® Presented by Toyota Trucks. It also publishes the leading trade publication Dealernews magazine, as well as event-associated consumer publications Powersports Magazine and Sturgis Guide.

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